Shivers, Indeed!
by ribbonetta
Summary: When Karen is sad about being bullied, Butters reads her a fairy tale to cheer her up. Adaptation of "The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear" by the Brothers Grimm.
1. A Day at the Library

Disclaimer: I don't own South Park or the Grimm's fairy tales. They belong to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm!

* * *

**Chapter 1: A Day at the Library**

"Well, well, well, what have we here? It's another book-loving freak in his natural habitat."

The familiar taunting voice pulled Butters back to reality as he glanced up from the faded pages of the book he was reading. He was sitting at a table by himself in the deserted children's section of the South Park Library, having become its frequent patron for the past week.

Cartman stood across from Butters, his mouth curled into a sneer. Since the mere thought of reading bored him to tears, he had been enjoying himself by wandering through the library and making fun of anyone in his path with a book in their hands.

"Oh, hi, Eric!" Butters said cheerfully. He had been so engrossed with the story that he hadn't heard the insult. "Are you looking for a book?"

"No way! I have better things to do than stick my nose in some stupid book," Cartman scoffed.

"This book isn't stupid, it's really cool-"

"Oh my God, you're such a nerd!" Cartman laughed. "I don't know why anyone would want to spend their whole day cooped up in a library!"

"But you're cooped in the library too, Eric," Butters pointed out.

"… So?" Cartman said after a pause. "I'm not like you, I'm cool! And don't you forget it!"

He angrily stomped away to bug another patron. Butters shrugged and was about to go back to reading when he noticed two more familiar faces entering the children's section.

"Hi, Kenny! Hi, Karen!" he called.

Kenny and Karen looked up at the greeting and made their way over to the blond boy's table. Karen smiled shyly at Butters, holding her pink princess doll tight in her arms.

"(Hi, Butters,)" said Kenny. "(I didn't know you were here today.)"

"Oh, I've been here all week," Butters replied. "Actually, I don't have a choice. My parents grounded me for a month and said I can't watch TV, so they're making me come here for at least two hours every day."

Karen whimpered at the word 'parents' and scooted closer to Kenny.

"What's wrong?" Butters asked.

"(We're here because of our parents too,)" Kenny explained, putting an arm around his sister. "(They're, uh, having a _loud discussion_ right now.)"

Butters nodded knowingly. "Gee, I'm sorry about that. But don't worry, Karen, there's a lot of fun things you can do here. The computers are open, and there are plenty of books to read."

"I don't have a library card," Karen replied.

"That's okay. If you find something you like, I'll check it out for you with my card."

"Really? Thank you, Butters!" Karen said, perking up a little. "Can I go look around, Kenny?"

"(Sure, Karen. I'll be right here if you need me.)"

"Okay. Let's go, Dolly!" Karen hugged her doll to her chest and walked away to browse a shelf of _American Girl_ books.

"(Thanks, man,)" Kenny said as he sat down in a chair next to Butters. "(Karen really needs something to cheer her up.)"

"No problem, Kenny," Butters replied with a small smile.

"(What book are you reading?)"

"It's a collection of the Grimm's fairy tales," Butters explained. He held up the book so Kenny could see the picture of a knight embracing a princess on the cover.

"(Karen might like that,)" said Kenny. "(She loves stories about princesses.)"

"There are good princess stories in here, and a lot of fairy tales I've never heard of before. I'm reading one right now that was originally taken out after the tales were first published. It's called 'How Some Children Played at Slaughtering.'"

"(Wait, what?)"

Butters pointed to the two-paragraph story on the page. "Yeah, it's right here. Listen."

Kenny listened to Butters read the tale as his imagination took over…

XXX

The parka-clad boy soon found himself sitting in a field outside of town with Stan, Kyle and Cartman.

"I'm bored," Stan yawned. "What do you guys want to do?"

"Let's pretend that we work in a butcher shop," Cartman suggested.

The others agreed to the idea. There was nothing else to do anyway.

"Since this was my idea, _I_ get to be the butcher," Cartman demanded. "Stan can be the cook."

"Why do I have to be the cook?" Stan asked.

"Because you like animals too much," Cartman answered smugly. "You'd never deliberately kill cows and pigs as a butcher."

"I wouldn't cook them either!"

"I'll be the cook, Stan," Kyle offered. "You can be my assistant."

"Sure, whatever," Stan said with a shrug.

"Good." Cartman turned to Kenny. "Kenny, you can be a pig."

"(Okay.)"

"So what do we do first?" Kyle asked.

"First, I need to prepare the pig to be made into sausages," Cartman answered. "You two go get some cooking supplies. Kenny, start acting like a pig."

Kenny got down on all fours and oinked half-heartedly while Stan and Kyle walked back into town to raid their kitchens.

"Good, Kenny. Now hold still," Cartman ordered.

Kenny's eyes grew wide with fear as Cartman pulled a knife out of his pocket and advanced toward him. This was no ordinary game of make-believe…

XXX

"(NO!)" Kenny pulled himself out of the daydream and covered his ears. "(Stop! Don't read any more!)"

"Yeah, this is a weird story," Butters agreed. "Let's see what else is in here..."

As Butters scanned the table of contents, Kenny glanced over at the shelf of _American Girl_ books to check on his sister. To his surprise, Karen was kneeling on the floor and crying into her hands. Kenny immediately leapt out of his chair and ran over to her. Butters closed the book and followed.

"(What's wrong, Karen?)" Kenny asked, kneeling down beside her.

"Cartman s-stole Dolly, Kenny!"

"(What?)"

"I-I was looking for a book when he b-bumped into me," Karen explained through her sobs. "He a-asked if he could use Dolly to play a g-game called 'Lambs' and when I said no, h-he took her out of my hands and p-pushed me down!"

Kenny helped Karen to her feet and let her cry on his shoulder as he angrily scanned the room to find Cartman. He soon saw the fat frenemy running out the front door, holding Karen's doll upside-down by her leg.

Kenny quivered with rage. _Nobody_ bullied Karen and got away with it. And no doll was safe in Cartman's hands anymore after all of the horrific ways that he destroyed his own stuffed animals.

"(I'll get Dolly back, Karen,)" he promised. "(I won't let him hurt her.)"

"I'll keep an eye on Karen for you, Kenny," Butters offered.

"(Thanks. I'll be right back.)"

Kenny rolled up his sleeves and sprinted after Cartman. Butters patted Karen's shoulder consolingly as tears continued to roll down her cheeks.

"Aw, it's okay, Karen. You'll get your doll back soon."

"It's not fair!" Karen whimpered. "Why do people always pick on me? I've never done anything mean to them!"

"I know how you feel. People pick on me all the time too," Butters sighed.

Karen buried her face in her hands again. "I wish I was brave, like Kenny and my guardian angel…"

"You are brave, Karen," Butters assured her. "You probably just don't know it."

Karen peered at Butters through her fingers. "Y-you really think so?"

"Uh-huh. In fact, there's a boy in one of the fairy tales in that book over there that has a similar problem."

"Really?" Karen asked, wiping her eyes. "What fairy tale is it?"

"You've probably never heard of it," Butters began, "but it's called 'The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear.' It's about a boy who gets picked on because he doesn't know what it means to get the shivers."

"The shivers?"

"It means to be scared, or to have shivers going down your spine," Butters explained.

"Oh, I know how that feels…"

"Me too. The boy in the story doesn't understand it because he's really brave deep down and doesn't know it. But instead of letting bullies bother him, he goes off on an exciting quest to find out how to get the shivers."

"Wow," Karen murmured, intrigued.

"And during his quest, he also meets a beautiful princess," Butters added, recalling his conversation with Kenny.

Karen's face lit up. "A princess?"

Butters smiled. "Yep! It's a great story, Karen. Would you like to hear it?"

"Yes, please!" Karen answered.

"Okay, come over here and I'll read it to you while we wait for Kenny."

Karen eagerly followed Butters back to his table and sat down as the blond boy scanned the table of contents again to find the story.

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_**Hey everyone! A few months ago my school did a play about the Grimm's fairy tales and "The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear" was one of the stories we acted out. It's such an amusing story, I couldn't resist making a South Park adaptation of it. The tale itself will begin in the next chapter! :)**_

_**Believe it or not, "How Some Children Played at Slaughtering" really is an omitted Grimm tale and was in our play too. I played the kid chosen to be the pig...**_


	2. A Boy Unlike the Others

**Chapter 2: A Boy Unlike the Others**

"Here it is!" Butters announced once he'd found the right page.

Karen peered down at the black and white illustration that went along with the story. It showed a young boy about to pull the rope of a bell in a church tower. He was looking over his shoulder at a white, ominous figure sneaking up behind him.

"I-is that a ghost?" Karen asked.

"Sort of. But don't worry, that part isn't scary," Butters answered reassuringly. "You'll see when we get there."

The apprehension left Karen's face as she gave him a small smile. Butters smiled back, then cleared his throat and began to read.

"'Once there was a father who had two sons…'"

XXX

Butters sat on a stump outside of his cottage, happily singing "I've Got Some Apples" to himself and drawing apples on the snow-covered ground with a stick. He was supposed to be chopping firewood for his dad, but he completely forgot about his task once the song had popped into his head. Butters continued to sing and drew a worm with a smiley face popping out of one of the apples while the pile of logs and axe lay forgotten.

Behind him, Tweek was busy shoveling the walkway to the front door. Stephen and Linda had taken Tweek into their home out of pity after Richard and Mrs. Tweak died a month before in a horrific fire at their coffee shop. Tweek enjoyed having Butters as a brother, but he wasn't adjusting well to his new parents. He noticed right away that Stephen and Linda were stricter with Butters than they were with him because they were always scolding and grounding Butters over insignificant things. They were also giving Tweek a majority of the chores to do because they felt he was more responsible than Butters, even though Tweek made mistakes and didn't always finish what he started. As a result, Tweek was acting more anxious than usual because of all the work and the pressure of trying to live up to his new parents' expectations. Plus, Stephen and Linda were only giving him decaf coffee once a day as opposed to what his real parents had given him, and the caffeine withdrawal was making him freak out even more.

Stephen walked outside to check on the boys and beamed down at Tweek. He didn't seem to notice that Tweek was only scooping up tiny amounts of snow with the shovel and that only a fraction of the path was clear, even though he had been shoveling for two hours.

"Great job, Tweek. Keep up the good work."

"Gah! Too much pressure!" Tweek moaned as he scooped up another sliver of snow.

Stephen frowned when he saw Butters goofing off and marched over to his son to reprimand him for his laziness.

"Butters, what are you doing?" he demanded. "I told you to chop firewood!"

Butters looked up. "Huh? Oh, sorry, Dad! I'll do it right now."

He hopped off of the stump, placed one of the logs on it and picked up the axe. He quickly swung the axe up to chop the log, but it flew out of his hands and hit a nearby tree.

"Oops! I'll get it..."

"No, don't!" Stephen exclaimed, fearing the further destruction Butters could cause with that sharp object in his hands. "I'll do it. Just go help Tweek with the walkway."

Butters left to get the extra shovel from the shed while Stephen retrieved the axe. He glared down at Butter's apple drawings and split the log in half a little more forcefully than needed.

"That boy's a fool," he grumbled. "He understands nothing and learns nothing!"

Butters returned with the extra shovel and helped Tweek scoop the snow off the walkway. After a minute or two, Linda walked out through the front door and went over to the boys.

"Tweek, can you go into town and buy a bag of potatoes for me?" she asked. "I need some for the stew I'm making for dinner."

"S-sure, Mrs. Stotch," Tweek stammered.

"Tweek, you're part of the family now. You can call me 'Mom,' remember?"

"Okay, Mrs. Stotch."

Linda chuckled and gave Tweek a handful of talers to pay for the potatoes. Tweek pocketed the coins and started to walk away.

"And Tweek, you'll get to town quicker if you take the shortcut through the cemetery," Linda called after him before going back inside to resume making the broth for the stew.

"The cemetery?!" Tweek exclaimed, trembling with fear as he thought about the ghosts that were rumored to haunt it. "Oh no! I won't go there! It gives me the shivers! Gah!"

Tweek sprinted down the street in the direction of the regular path to town. Butters watched him leave, confused as to what he was talking about.

"Hey, Dad? What are the shivers?"

"Not now, Butters!" Stephen snapped, chopping another log in half. "Shovel the walkway or you're grounded!"

Butters immediately went back to work, still trying to figure out what these 'shivers' could be. He was so lost in thought that he didn't realize he was tossing the snow back onto the parts that Tweek had already cleared.

Later that evening, Tweek and Butters went to go hang out with Clyde, Token and Craig at Token's manor. The boys set up a campfire in the backyard and roasted marshmallows while Craig entertained them with a scary story he had recently heard.

"… so the man got out of the carriage and went over to the other side to let his girlfriend out," Craig narrated. "And there… wedged into the carriage door… was a rusty, bloody hook!"

Clyde, Token and Tweek screamed in fright and nearly dropped their marshmallows into the fire. Butters, on the other hand, wasn't scared and leaned forward expectantly.

"And?" he asked. "What happened next?"

"How should I know? That's the end of the story," Craig answered.

"Oh. Well, that wasn't a happy ending."

"That's the point, dumbass."

"Oh man, that story gave me the shivers!" Token exclaimed.

"Me too!" Clyde added.

Tweek yelped in agreement and ate his roasted marshmallow.

"Really?" Butters frowned in confusion. "That's no fair. I don't think I have any."

"Any what? Brains?" Token shot back, making Clyde and Craig laugh.

"Yeah! If he were any stupider, he'd have to be watered twice a day!" Clyde jeered.

Butters kept frowning as the three boys continued to laugh, his eyes distant. He quietly got up and walked over to the manor's beautiful garden.

"Cut it out, you guys!" Tweek exclaimed angrily. "Stop making fun of him!"

"Would you relax?" Craig replied. "He didn't look like he understood what we were saying anyway."

"Let's get back to telling scary stories," said Token, "Jason told me a good one the other day…"

As Token began to tell a story about a boy falling in love with a girl who wore a ribbon around her neck, Tweek walked over to the garden too, wanting to comfort Butters and avoid listening to another scary story. He found Butters by one of the flowerbeds absentmindedly picking the petals off of a daisy.

"Are you okay, Butters?"

"I just don't understand it, Tweek," Butters sighed.

Tweek put his arm around him. "Don't listen to what they said. They were just teasing."

"No, I mean I don't understand why I don't have the shivers like you guys," Butters explained. He hadn't even heard the other boys' insults because this thought was plaguing his mind at the time.

"Maybe you've just heard that story before," Tweek suggested.

"It's not just with that story," Butters replied, tossing the daisy stem to the ground. "People are always saying, 'It gives me the shivers! It gives me the shivers!' But I don't know what they're talking about. Can you tell me what the shivers are, Tweek?"

"Ngh! Well… um… they're kind of like… uh… w-when you… um…" Tweek couldn't think of a good explanation and clutched his head. "Oh man! This is too much pressure!"

"It's okay, don't worry about it," Butters said. "I'll just ask someone else."

Realizing how late it was, the two boys bade their friends goodnight and walked home to go to bed. Tweek fell asleep right away, but Butters tossed and turned in his bed as he kept thinking about the shivers. He had no idea what they could be, but they seemed like a pretty big deal if neither his dad nor Tweek could provide answers to his question. He eventually drifted off to sleep, determined to figure out what the shivers were so he could experience their magic too.

Butters was still in this mindset as he ate his oatmeal at breakfast the next morning. Tweek sat next to him, dejectedly drinking his cup of decaf coffee. Stephen walked into the room and sat at the table, looking like he had something important on his mind as well.

"Butters, I have something I want to discuss with you," he announced.

"What is it, Dad?"

"You're ten years old now, and it's time you start thinking about what you want to do for a living. Tweek has learned to work hard, but you've learned nothing as far as I can see."

"Actually, Dad, I have thought about what I want to do," Butters replied. "I want to learn something that I know nothing about."

"Really?" Stephen asked, pleasantly surprised. "That's great! What is it?"

Butters beamed. "I want to learn how to get the shivers."

"The what?"

"The shivers. I want to learn what they are and how I can get them like everyone else."

"T-that sounds really dangerous, Butters!" Tweek stammered.

"Dangerous? It's downright stupid!" Stephen scoffed. "You can't earn a living by shivering, young man! How else are you going to support your mom and I in our old age?"

"I'm sure I'll find a way, Dad. You just watch!"

Butters left the table and happily skipped out of the room to start making plans to accomplish his goal. Stephen sighed in consternation and rubbed his temples.

"Promise me, Tweek, that you won't become a fool like Butters."

"Stop pressuring me!" Tweek cried, forcing down another sip of decaf coffee.

* * *

_**Hi everyone! Sorry for the wait, I've been drowning in schoolwork for the past few weeks. I'll have the next chapter up soon; the picture described in the beginning is a preview of what happens next!**_

_**The brother in the original story is a lot meaner to the boy, is more hardworking and is only scared of cemeteries. I thought it would be ironic to use Tweek since he doesn't finish things and gets scared at the drop of a hat. Also, he and Butters get along fairly well.**_


End file.
